THE LIFE of a Freehold youngster was saved by a revolutionary new system designed to raise the alarm when swimmers get into difficulties.

Cameras linked to the £65,000 system picked up the 10-year-old as she sank 12 feet to the floor of a pool in Bangor, North Wales.

Within seconds attendants dived in and got the unconscious girl to the surface for life-saving treatment.

The Poseidon system, which uses 12 cameras above and inside the pool, can instantly detect when a swimmer has got into difficulties.

Within seconds, an alarm system is triggered and the area pin-pointed.

The girl, whose family is seeking asylum, spent a night at hospital, but is now back at home with her mother after making a full recovery.

From the moment the alarm was triggered to when the youngster was on the poolside, only 87 seconds elapsed.

She is thought to be the first person in Britain to be saved by Poseidon.

The system was installed in the pool two years ago after it was deemed difficult for lifeguards, because of its many windows creating a glare and its unusual depth.

Gwynedd County Council leisure officer Brian Evans said: "We feel as though this system has saved this little girl's life. The pool at the time was very busy and the lifeguards were at full stretch. We can say the extra pair of eyes identified her.

"The lifeguards would have seen her but perhaps not within 10 seconds. That's the critical thing. A lifeguard could have taken a minute, maybe two, maybe three minutes. We can't say.

"This is the first time we've had to use it in the two years it has been installed. Everything worked according to plan."

Karen Gibson, one of the lifeguards, said the first thing she heard was the alarm.

"You can't see people on the bottom when there are people swimming, especially during the summer holidays when there is so much splashing."

Praising the system, which is now operating in eight pools in the UK, she said: "It is amazing, fantastic, it really does help us do our job."

Click on the link below to see the dramatic underwater footage of the girl's rescue ...

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